On the Job

Sherlock Holmes she is not, but Carrie Kerskie, president of the Naples-based private investigator agency Marcone Investigations, knows a thing or two about sleuthing. Previously a financial advisor and an agent for Nationwide Insurance, Kerskie turned three years ago to the private-eye biz. Now she investigates cases dealing with corporate services, infidelity, kidnappings and more.

How did you get involved with private investigating?
I was teaching adult education at Lorenzo Walker [Institute of Technology], where I met the owner of [Marcone Investigations]. He had a law enforcement background, and he needed somebody who had the financial and insurance [knowledge] to help with cases.

What types of things do you do on a daily basis?
A little bit of everything. I go out in the field to do surveillance, and I have a team of investigators that help me with all the cases. We pull records from the sheriff’s department and the circuit courts. We also do a bunch of surveillance work and online research.

Can you describe a case you’ve investigated?
One was an international adoption gone wrong. The [adoptive] parents contacted me in October 2006 because they were trying to locate the child, and nobody else they called—the local sheriff’s department, police department and the FBI—would help them. I had a contact in the Department of Homeland Security whom I shared the information with, and it warranted them opening an investigation. Then on Super Bowl Sunday of ’07, I got the call saying that they recovered the child. That was one of my favorite ones because it was good news. We don’t get a lot of happy endings.